Like Passengers On The Deck Of The Titanic
As I’m in Phoenix for the first part of this week, a post on Arizona. Kaiser Health News. “In the fourth year of a depressed real estate market, experts say thousands of seniors remain unable to move into senior housing because they can’t sell their homes quickly enough or for the price they need. ‘We see people coming in much older and frailer because they’re taking a longer time to make the decision,’ says Donna Taylor, executive VP for the nonprofit Arizona Baptist Retirement Centers in Phoenix. “They don’t know how long it will take to sell their house, and in some cases they’re reluctant to sell because of the lower price’.”
“Taylor’s group has held sessions for seniors with real estate experts on how to pay for living arrangements with needed services. One alternative is defaulting on the mortgage and walking away from the home to get out from under monthly note. But persuading seniors to consider that has been an uphill battle. ‘For my mom’s generation, a contract is a contract,’ Taylor says. ‘It’s very difficult for them.’”
“Since 2008, Brookdale Senior Living, which is based in Brentwood, Tenn., and operates 13 CCRCs around the country, has signed contracts with seniors promising to buy their houses at a pre-determined price, based on an independent appraisal, within eight months, if they can’t sell them ‘The biggest sticking point is getting people to understand that their home isn’t valued at what it was when the market was at its peak in 2007,’ Bird says.”
From KTAR. “The very young suffer from the economic recession as well as their parents and older family members, according to the Children’s Action Alliance. Nearly 10 percent of Arizona kids live in families hit by foreclosure — twice the national rate, said Dana Naimark with the Children’s Action Alliance. ‘We have almost 400,000 kids living in poverty now. That would fill up the Cardinals’ stadium five times over.’”
Inside Tucson Business. “Through the first seven months of 2011, the pace of new home construction in the Tucson region is down 28 percent from 2010 with the City of Tucson leading the decline. Through July, 892 new home permits have been issued, down 350 from 1,242 for the first seven months of 2010 (see chart). Permits issued by the city have totaled 142, down 35.5 percent from 220 for the same months of 2010.”
“‘Most home interest is still in low prices, offered by foreclosures. New home sales are being made to those who specifically demand a new construction home,’ said John Strobeck, of Bright Future Business Consultants.”
The Arizona Republic. “Question: Five years ago, we purchased with a mortgage loan a small home in Phoenix. After the closing, we were able to get a change in the zoning to permit my husband, who is a chiropractor, to convert the small home into an office building for his chiropractic practice. Due to the poor economy, my husband’s chiropractic practice has suffered, and our income is down considerably. In addition, because of the declining property values in the area, we are now ‘underwater’ at least $120,000 on the mortgage loan.”
“If the bank forecloses on my husband’s office building, will we have any liability for the $120,000 deficiency after the foreclosure? Answer: Probably.”
“The Arizona anti-deficiency statutes generally protect homeowners from any deficiency after a foreclosure only if the secured real property is ‘utilized’ as a home. Inasmuch as your mortgage loan is no longer secured by real property that is ‘utilized’ as a home, you probably will have liability for the $120,000 deficiency after the foreclosure.”
My Fox Phoenix. “If you are truly strapped for cash and unable to make the monthly payments on your home, it may seem that the best option is to just unload the property for whatever someone will pay. Some homeowners will attempt to work with their lender to agree to accept a short sale. They will put the house on the market, get an offer, and take that offer—along with proof of hardship—to their lender. The lender can then agree to accept the offer of a reduced amount on the unpaid balance due to sale of the house. Sounds like the easy way out of a bad situation, right?”
“Wrong. The short sale is a less than ideal way to get out of home ownership for several reasons. Your credit score still suffers a hit. You still might not be off the hook for the balance of the loan. Whether or not the sale is approved is entirely up to the bank.”
“In order to simplify short sales, the government introduced HAFA (Home Affordable Foreclosure Assistance) a plan that promises to waive the deficiency between the amount of the sale and the amount owed on the mortgage. The problem with the HAFA program is that a homeowner needs to have first been turned down for the HAMP (Home Owner Affordable Mortgage Program) option—which is essentially a government sponsored loan modification.”
“By the time a homeowner is in a position to apply for the HAFA, they have been fighting red tape and bank disinterest for months and are facing foreclosure. If they are approved, they have only 120 days to sell their property. If they don’t conclude a sale, the house moves into foreclosure. So like passengers on the deck of the Titanic, homeowners who think HAFA is the answer will patiently wait for help until the rising tide swamps their home, their finances and their credit.”
A Letter to the Editor in the Kingman Daily Miner. “I have a close friend. He is married and bought a nice little house in the mid-1990s. He got a great deal at only $119,000 in California. He works as a millwright at about $70K per year. His spouse didn’t work for several years.”
“As life went on, the value of his home increased dramatically, topping out in 2005 at $396,000 based on identical homes selling in the immediate area. With all this equity available he became a boat owner. He had two vehicles, one two years old, one new. Both were traded in before new tires were needed for ‘bigger better’ rigs that better reflected the new lifestyle. One needed to pull the new boat. The other equipped to bring home the new rear tine tiller, new mower, new washer and dryer (the old ones were three years old), and he now has two mowers and a tiller to care for his 1000 square feet of yard, and a stainless steel barbecue adorns his patio.”
“Credit card offers came in. There is a great little casino about 60 miles away that is a lot of fun. The new real wood floor in the living room, dining area and hall really contrasts well with the $5,000 grandfather’s clock. The 68-inch projection TV with its sound system really sounds and looks great contrasted against the new wood. However, the appliances look kind of 60ish with their off white enamel. New stainless ones sure look great there now.”
“Times were great. Then up goes fuel prices and up goes the nation’s foreclosure rates. What do you think happened to the temporary jobs for the misses? Then the millwright job - two production lines are closed, there are many layoffs. Thankfully he keeps his job but there isn’t the overtime of the past. The cars are a bit older and one has an expensive breakdown. They are of course completely upside-down in the home. Thank goodness there is a bike in the shed - the millwright job is only four miles away and exercise is a good thing.”
“The phone rings lots but they don’t answer - ‘we know we owe them money, why do they have to call all the time? At least my friends are working themselves out of this mess. And they will make it barring an unseen catastrophe.”
“Folks, personal responsibility is the key. Regulations must be in place and enforced in financial dealings on lending institutions and on borrowers. Savings instead of using the equity in our homes and a bit of prioritizing of needs over wants and like-to-haves is a must by our leaders. Demand them.”
I’m here in Phoenix through tomorrow, probably. I went to check out the trustee sales yesterday and I’ll do that again today. It was interesting if anyone wants to know what’s going on there.
I drove around some yesterday. News flash; there’s a bunch of foreclosures in the Phoenix area! Seriously though, the market has changed a lot since I was last here a few years ago. Another thing; it’s REALLY HOT!
Seriously though, the market has changed a lot since I was last here a few years ago ??
Changed how Ben ??
It’s totally dominated by foreclosures now. Yesterday I went out to look at a few houses on the MLS. Turned out most were really REOs (lender owned). And the HUD owned market is a big chunk of that, which isn’t the case in N AZ.
I looked at some of the glossy RE magazines. Also page after page of REOs, etc. I was looking at some big houses built in 2007 on the market for $90k. But at the auction, I witnessed houses being started at around $130k being bid up to 160-200k.
I went to this one house on the MLS which had a regular brokers sign in front. But it had a sticker on the outside of the window I recognized from a major foreclosure servicer. I called the brokerage and the lady asked me, “is the sign still in the front yard?” I said yes, and she transferred me to the listing agent. The agent told me the owner was trying to do a short sale and had “just decided to let it go into foreclosure”.
I looked at the sticker and it had an initial and a date of August 19th. Next to that someone had written, “I live here, who are you?”
“Yesterday I went out to look at a few houses on the MLS. Turned out most were really REOs (lender owned).”
Sneaky lenders. Wouldn’t it have been more efficient for them to just auction them, rather than posing as families trying to make arms-length sales?
Not really sneaky. Dumb maybe, but not sneaky. The bank is hoping they can get more by selling it through the MLS than letting it go to the highest bidder at auction.
In the “good old days” a bank normally went through an open and public auction as that was accepted in law as yielding a fair market price. Private sales could be manipulated.
But in those days normally the FB would have to be given the “equity of redemption” after the sale - the amount of the sales proceeds above the mortgage balance. Today there’s little need to set up a paper trail to show that the FB has NO equity of redemption as so many are so far underwater.
(The modern use of the term “equity” is actually shorthand for this legal term of equity of redemption.)
So it appears the difference since the last time you were there is that you are actually seeing the active liquidation of foreclosures…The couple of houses that you saw auctioned for 160-200k do you know what the details were about the houses such as. square footage, age etc. ??
Yes, they are liquidating in Phoenix. The first clue was when I was waiting for the trustee sale to start. People started showing up with coolers. This was because the auctions go on for hours. There were even two auctions going on at the same time at the same table.
I don’t know anything about the individual houses being sold. Obviously the bidders knew what they needed to know well before they got there. I can say that of the 70 or so people with clip-boards and spreadsheets, only about 10 were doing any bidding.
Here’s a detail for you.
Any of them can be built for less than current asking.
“Any of them can be built for less than current asking”
I don’t know what it costs per sq foot to build here in Phoenix, but there are countless examples of houses built in the last 6 years that are LISTED at less than $30 per sq foot. Sales prices are even lower. Can you really build a house (including the improved lot) for significantly less than $30 per sq foot?
Not $30. $60 no problem.
$60 I can believe. $30 seemed like a stretch. So it’s safe to say that a significant amount of inventory in Phoenix is priced below the cost to build. Even if you exclude the cost of a GC. That’s what I thought, but thanks for confirming. Helps explain why low end building has basically dropped to zero here.
I really believe that what Phoenix is going through now is the foundation for a real recovery at some point. The market is working through the excess supply and price has overcorrected as a result. Therefore very little new supply is created and as long as the number of households stays flat or increases, at some point demand will exceed supply again. Just like many here have been saying for years. You can’t have a real recovery until the supply/demand imbalances are corrected. Attempting to prop up the market only postpones the inevitable.
I further believe that the reason Phoenix (actually all of AZ) corrects faster than the rest of the country is because of it’s anti-deficiency laws. Judicial foreclosures are very rare and trustee sales are fast and efficient. Seems to be about 8-9 months from when the person stops paying to when the trustee sale occurs.
While I’m not going to deny the existance of 30$/sq foot homes in phoenix, I will say that these homes are in some -scary- neighborhoods.
The house might look nice, but zoom out just a tiny bit and take a look at where it -really- is. Towards the end of the bubble they were cramming homes anywhere they could, and plenty of them ended up in such amazing and desirable locations as Buckeye (surrounded by the phoenix industrial belt and what appears to be a very multicolored superfund-worthy site when viewed from the air). Other little communities were crammed into vacant lots on the southern edge of phoenix (north of south mountain), bordering up on some very very nasty neighborhoods. You’ll notice if you visit these homes, almost all of them need air conditioners (among other things). If you’re observant, you’ll also notice the really nice air conditioners sitting atop the crack houses and run down hovels that surround the development. Lets just say these individuals still living down there know which community they need to be stealing from, and that these mcmansion communities are largely abandoned for bigger reasons than simple home value….. Graffiti runs rampant, squatters aren’t unusual, and the whole area reeks of being unsafe when the lights go down. Strategic default takes on a whole new meaning when you realize you’ve been sold the nicest house in the worst neighborhood in the city. May as well paint a target on yourself if you choose to become one of the only people actually living there.
And at 30$/sq foot, the real market for these homes comes out - the people already living down there who are OK with the neighborhood. Don’t worry though, your next door neighbor is the friendly sort. You can visit him any time to borrow a cup of sugar or purchase black market drugs and ammunition. His many many friends that hang out shirtless around his on-blocks impala will certainly help maintain the kind of image that keeps the housing value up. Hell, this is the sort of place where you’ll want to keep your doors unlocked - because no sense in having them bust the door off the hinge, that gets expensive when it happens a few times a month.
A few examples based on my above post :).
1326 W Pleasant Ln
Phoenix, Arizona 85041
http://www.homepath.com/search.html?ms=&zip=&xs=&src_ref=&cno=000&pi=&mlsid=&pg=3&bhi=&srcst=active&srcst=just%20listed&srcst=back%20on%20market&srcst=price%20reduced&pa=80000&st=AZ&bdi=3&pt=sf&ci=Phoenix&listingid=26596486
38$/sq foot on “pleasant lane”, right next to a school. Now doesn’t that sound nice? Nevermind the giant sludge pit a mile north, and try not to worry yourself about all the falling apart tiny single shacks that surround you. Being bilingual will certainly help you shop at the Food City 300 feet from your door.
And guys, that’s a “nicer” example (a stucco mchome from the 2000’s). If you’re ballsy enough to actually live there you are a stronger individual than me - or better armed.
For 22$/sq foot you can go native:
1449 S 11th Ave
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
http://www.homepath.com/search.html?ms=1500&zip=&xs=&src_ref=&cno=000&pi=&mlsid=&pg=2&bhi=&srcst=active&srcst=just%20listed&srcst=back%20on%20market&srcst=price%20reduced&pa=80000&st=AZ&bdi=3&ci=Phoenix&pt=sf&listingid=29565680
This 1950’s stylish squat was recently renovated. I’ll let the ad do the talking:
CHARMING 4 BEDROOM 2 BATH RED BRICK HOME WITH FORMAL DINING, SPACIOUS FLOOR PLAN AND UPDATED KITCHEN. NEUTRAL FLOORING THROUGHOUT. LARGE BACK AND SIDE YARD.
Pay no attention to photo 11, of the back yard, saved here for posterity:
http://i.imgur.com/5R0mx.jpg
The previous owners clearly wanted a 2-tone brick rear wall, and that is in -no way- a bunch of dark gray paint slapped up to cover wall-to-wall graffiti all over the dirty dingy small crapbox back yard of this home. Charming.
Oh god, oh god, another one :).
5211 W Warner St
Phoenix, Arizona 85043
http://www.homepath.com/search.html?ms=1500&zip=&xs=&src_ref=&cno=000&pi=&mlsid=&pg=3&bhi=&srcst=active&srcst=just%20listed&srcst=back%20on%20market&srcst=price%20reduced&pa=80000&st=AZ&bdi=3&ci=Phoenix&pt=sf&listingid=29163821
You guys owe it to yourselves to look at this one. Just 39$/square foot, now put that address into google maps and take a look at the surrounding area.
Why yes, those ARE beautifully-colorful industrial slag pools fully surrounding your new home. This is the -perfect- place to raise your very own family of mutants!
I no one paying attention to me?
I’ve posted about the house across the street from me that sold for $270K at the peak, but was pulled off the market when it wouldn’t sell for $77K.
The house next door went through foreclsoures, and the owners never even did cash-out refi. They bought in the mid-90s for $110K, did a refi to lower interest rates, then walked rather than even trying to sell.
Condos down the street that were selling at $150K at teh peak, now linger on the market under $25K. PITI would be less than the condo association fee, and still there are no buyers.
And I’m not in an exhurb. I’m about 20 miles from dowtown in a late 1970s neighborhood.
The exhurbs are much, much worse. Brand new homes that would have gone for $300K at peak now linger on the market at $60K or less. 3-4 year old houses that did sell at the peak for $300K are now lingerin gon the market under $50K.
Meanwhile, it looks as if every SFH under $240K is a trashed. Many sold “as is.” Not fun times.
Honestly, I’ve always liked your little part of town.
Decent homes, reasonably sized, low slung block, built when builders still knew how to put a house together suited for the desert :).
There’s some really nice little neighborhoods up that way. Clean and well taken care of with relatively low crime. I’d have considered the area if I was living/working in the northwest valley. As it were, I snatched up a place stupid-cheap down in a nicer part of gilbert (well, most of gilbert is nice actually). It’s been a real pleasure watching prices here swing back to affordable so quickly.
I gotta admit though, I still find the “unique” shaped buildings just south of you to be pretty humorous :). 33.612733,-112.18027
Hey, Ben, why doncha come down Tucson way? It’s hot down here too (forecast high of 107 today), and our real estate market is every bit as entertaining as Phoenix’s.
I’d like to, but I’m focusing on the trustee sales and west of Phoenix. I’ll be in Tucson soon.
It was 113 yesterday. I keep looking around at people and thinking, “it’s really hot. Don’t you think it’s hot?” But nobody mentions it. I was thinking yesterday that it’s more uncomfortable in Dallas or San Antonio this time of year. If it was as humid in Phoenix as it is in Texas, it would be, well, like Laredo!
I’d like to, but I’m focusing on the trustee sales and west of Phoenix. I’ll be in Tucson soon.
Well, Slim’s looking forward to welcoming you to the Baked Apple! Anyone else care to join me for a Tucson HBB meetup?
You call it hot. We call it “seasonal”.
National weather service is predicting 116 today. “Very seasonal”
Hey, we have all four seasons here in scenic phoenix.
Three of them are summer, and one we just call Dante’s Inferno.
After awhile living here Ben, you just sorta block out the fact that it’s so freaking hot.
There’s not much sense in complaining about it, because it was hot yesterday, and it’ll be hot tomorrow. You just suck it up and accept that 113F is perfectly normal, stay out of the sun as best as possible, thank the lucky stars it isn’t too humid, and try to dress cool (I wear a -lot- of linen this time of year). The first year here you spend the whole time telling EVERYONE around you how hot it is. Eventually you realize, everyone already knows how hot it is and they’ve accepted it. Some even revel in it, laughing at the tourists who can’t handle the heat :).
“It was interesting if anyone wants to know what’s going on there.”
Ben, I’d love to hear your take-aways from the trustee sales… Different from last time, I take it?
To clarify, Ben: are you saying that the banks are not bidding the loan amount as an opening bid, as they have in the past? I thought that was the factor that was making most auctions not really auctions in the past.
Yes, they are opening some bids lower than the amount owed on the first lien, at least here in Phoenix. To my knowledge this started in the past 6 months or so.
I just left the auction after an hour, and here’s what I think is going on. These people look like they took a seminar and jumped into it. They aren’t serious, for the most part are young and more concerned with hot dogs/electronic devises than the auctions. I could be wrong.
These are the actual foreclosures. In theory they can’t go inside the house and still have to deal with other liens. I’m not seeing that these are selling much cheaper than the REOs on the MLS, or at least cheap enough to be worth the risk of unknown defects.
I’ll probably skip the trustee sales tomorrow. BTW, commercial RE is a disaster down here.
These are the actual foreclosures. In theory they can’t go inside the house and still have to deal with other liens. I’m not seeing that these are selling much cheaper than the REOs on the MLS, or at least cheap enough to be worth the risk of unknown defects.
My former landlady bought a foreclosed property on the Pima County Courthouse steps in December 1998. She wasn’t able to go inside the houses (there were two on the property) before the auction. And she had to pay off the previous owner’s property tax lien.
As for repairs, she had years of ‘em. When I talked to her on Thanksgiving 2005, she was still bringing that property back up to snuff.
Ben, I think it’s huge progress that the banks are interested in getting something at the auction other than another REO!
“I’m not seeing that these are selling much cheaper than the REOs on the MLS, or at least cheap enough to be worth the risk of unknown defects.”
That is shocking. Personally, I would demand a significant discount to compensate for taking on unknown defects. Without that discount, no way!
“Without that discount, no way!”
The bankster collusion to keep millions of homes off the market until the economy ‘comes back’ pretty much guarantees there will be at least one sucker with a Fannie, Freddie or FHA loan in hand who has lower standards than you have, for every home that dribbles on to the market.
“…are you saying that the banks are not bidding the loan amount as an opening bid, as they have in the past?”
What’s up with that concept, anyway? It reminds me of one of the rudest remarks guys in my high school used to make to one another, which always stretched the bounds of my imagination:
‘GO F YOURSELF!’
“Taylor’s group has held sessions for seniors with real estate experts on how to pay for living arrangements with needed services. One alternative is defaulting on the mortgage and walking away from the home to get out from under monthly note. But persuading seniors to consider that has been an uphill battle. ‘For my mom’s generation, a contract is a contract,’ Taylor says. ‘It’s very difficult for them.’”
At age 64 they SHOULD HAVE NO MORTGAGE. It should have been paid off long ago.
It was not very difficult for them to use their house as an ATM…
What ever age you are at you still have to pay property taxes every year. You never really own a home out right.
In Alaska, you don’t pay property tax if you’re over 65, but then, you have to live in Alaska, which is quite a bit different than the tourist experience.
In Florida the experience is somewhat different. We have a 25,000 exemption if you are a “primary resident” and an additional $25,000 exemption if you are over 65.
Before the “housing bubble” it was not untypical for seniors to pay very little or nothing, giving average home valuations of around 75k.
When 75k became 250k in 2005 and 2006, the rates went up substantially. Fortunately, Florida also has a 3% max. per annum rate increase, so that stupid appraisers couldn’t jack up property taxes on residents because speculators were buying up “florida land”. The 1928 Housing boom still lingers in Florida history.
Bad luck for all the suckers who bought in 2004-2007 because the rate is based on the “purchase price”. They got to pay the $12,000 in annual property taxes on their $350,000 McMansion.
In Idaho you get a roughly $100K exemption on property tax for one owner-occupied residence. Since houses here are generally much less than $200K that’s a big help. Seniors may get additional property tax breaks depending upon documented “need”.
“By the time a homeowner is in a position to apply for the HAFA, they have been fighting red tape and bank disinterest for months and are facing foreclosure. If they are approved, they have only 120 days to sell their property. If they don’t conclude a sale, the house moves into foreclosure. So like passengers on the deck of the Titanic, homeowners who think HAFA is the answer will patiently wait for help until the rising tide swamps their home, their finances and their credit.”
An evil mad scientist could not have devised a more wicked scheme to not let on FB dollar escape…
A Letter to the Editor in the Kingman Daily Miner. “I have a close friend. He is married and bought a nice little house in the mid-1990s. He got a great deal at only $119,000 in California. He works as a millwright at about $70K per year. His spouse didn’t work for several years.”
This guy had it made! A home at 1.5x income, steady job and a good wife.
Were ALL THOSE TOYS worth it?????
It was beyond toys. What does one do with a $5,000 grandfather clock?
“What does one do with a $5,000 grandfather clock?”
I’ve seen friends who want something like a small fishing boat, and they have to buy the wife something of equal value to balance the overindulgence.
haha, yep. Couples are terrible…I won’t say anything if you buy a boat if you don’t say anything when I buy a grandfather clock..and so it goes. I’m trying very hard to not do that in my marriage, or at least keep at the chump change level.
Gosh Montana, we just did that the other day over some $100 tech toy. I have a “cotton addiction” (bedding, linen clothing, towels…haven’t feed it for months) so I gave into his craving. Luckily, the item was gone from everyone’s inventory. $100 saved!
Sounds like -somebody- was trying to get their hands on a touchpad :).
It’s a nice piece of tech if you can find it, for 100$ anyway.
Sell it on Ebay for $2,500?
Optimist!
Optimism truly is a hard impulse to shake!
What does one do with a $5,000 grandfather clock?
Impress those that decide which direction you move on the social ladder? And once you get on that ride, just what is enough?
“This guy had it made! A home at 1.5x income, steady job and a good wife.
Were ALL THOSE TOYS worth it?????”
My sentiment exactly when I read it.
If a majority of our fellow countrymen and women every figure this out, look out below.
So far, the evidence is inconclusive that they will. It is to me, anyway.
It seems to me that they won’t have a choice in the matter.
Low cost loans on ATM houses. Banks need the debt/slaves!
“They don’t know how long it will take to sell their house, and in some cases they’re reluctant to sell because of the lower price’.”
Get used to this story line, because Americans can rationally expect to read it over and over again for the next couple of decades.
I guess the mortgage is just taken for granted? because if you have to take 225k instead of 350k, it’s still enough money to get you set up in assisted living for awhile.
And I know from family experience that assisted living will burn up that money in a hurry. Especially if the family member develops a problem that requires that he/she be put in a locked facility.
This happened to my grandmother. Her memory loss/wandering problem got to be too much to handle. I can remember visiting her in that locked ward in the care home. At least once during every visit, she talked about taking a walk up the street, c’mon, just a little one.
But she wasn’t allowed to leave the building. She was that bad off.
“But she wasn’t allowed to leave the building. She was that bad off.”
Even accompanied by a family member???
Obviously she had enough self-awareness to know that she was locked up though!
Boy would I hate to be in those shoes…
One day last year, an elderly lady asked me for a ride home. She said she had been walking her dog and was tired. I loaded them in my car, and while driving her around, it dawned on me she was a memory patient. Luckily, it all worked out but how was I suppose to know. Her caregiver was watching a spanish soap opera, and had her bedroom door closed. The lady got out with her dog. Yikes.
I’ll never do that again!
“But she wasn’t allowed to leave the building. She was that bad off.”
Even accompanied by a family member???
That’s correct. Because before she got this bad off, I used to walk her down to the corner store so she could buy a six-pack of beer. Doctor encouraged her to drink it because it calmed her down.
Obviously she had enough self-awareness to know that she was locked up though!
That she did. And, from what my great aunt (her sister) said later, she didn’t lose that self-awareness until the very end.
AZ Slim
I wonder if that awareness is universal?
Was she a Alzheimer’s or Dementia patient?
Slim this was assisted living? I’ve noticed the full service ones do seem to have the residents in pretty tight control. I think I’d prefer the type where you can come and go.
When I was going door to door I met a very old couple that had decided to rent one of the vinyl crapshacks for 1200 instead of paying 3200/mo for the two of them, and get aides to come in every day. He said the kicker was, if one of them died it would still be 2800/mo. This was 5 years ago.
Slim here.
My grandmother had some sort of memory problem. Back in the early 1970s, it was called “hardening of the arteries.” Who knows what it really was.
She was in a nursing home — assisted living didn’t really exist back then — and she was on a locked ward due to her tendency to wander.
Thank you, slim.
Sometimes I wonder if the drug companies took a condition of aging and put a diagnosis on it. Increases their revenues like some many conditions and diseases these days.
Nah, they care… LOL
“Doctor encouraged her to drink it because it calmed her down.”
Slim, I want that prescribed when I get to be her age!
Hahahah
$225K instead of $350K…
hahahah.
you are CLEARLY talking about somewhere other than Phoenix.
Phoenix it is more like: $25k for the condo instead of $150K. $110K instead of $300K. $175K instead of $400K.
Check the hsitory on this house across from me!
$260K down to $73K.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/14026-N-56th-Ave-Glendale-AZ-85306/7911281_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-bubble-address}
How about a townhouse that would have sold for $150K at peak? Oh, here it is, just sold for $25K.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5417-W-Friess-Dr-Glendale-AZ-85306/8097871_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-bubble-address}
Oh, but maybe that is just my “hood”. How about the high end like this 2400 sqft beauty with a private dock on a man-made lake?
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4903-S-Purple-Sage-Dr-Chandler-AZ-85248/8213050_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-bubble-address}
$600K to $330K.
Oh, not looking for a 55+ community with no sidewalks or publci schools? Check out this nice little place in Maricopa Exhurb.
Down from $270K to $80K in only 5 years.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/21342-N-Duncan-Dr-Maricopa-AZ-85138/60142624_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-bubble-address}
I could go on and on and on. Houses in Phoenix are not off 30% from peak. The strong areas are off only 50%, with the areas harder hit are off more than 75%.
The only reason the 55+ gated communities are down as much as other areas is becuase of this reluctance to sell. Those people start slashing prices to get out, that $300K for a house that was $600K at peak will look insanely high.
I don’t think most people from other areas realize how much prices have dropped here. If you want to see what happens in a market when the majority of foreclosures are processed in a timely manner, come to Phoenix.
Oops, forgot the story was Phoenix, my bad.
Yeah 200-225k is still the norm here for newer, though the crapboxes aren’t worth that.
Careful, darrell—you might want to make me move to Phoenix!
(in spite of the fact that it seemed like Hades to me the last time I was there!)
I’m still waiting to see some Scottsdale foreclosure deals that are walking distance from Scottsdale Blvd, so it’s easy to catch a bus directly south to ASU.
The house across from you doesn’t look too bad - what made me really laugh my *%% off though was the two giant swastikas 100 feet south of it though.
That one has some real google maps “curb appeal” for the white power market. Lol.
Those are doctors’ offices and they don’t look like swastikas from the ground.
“What does one do with a $5,000 grandfather clock?”
Sell it for $200, and use his own truck to deliver it to the next sucker.
Your Friend is an idiot. I mean typical American.
We’re Number 1 ! USA all the way!
The story about the chiropractic office confirmed a couple of things that have been rumbling around in my mind:
1. I can remember when I was a wee little Slim living outside of Pittsburgh. Mom took me to a home-based doctor’s office a few miles away. Then, as I got closer to school age, we switched doctors and went to a guy who had his office in a strip shopping center. That sure opened my eyes. I thought that seeing the doctor meant that you’d be going to the office part of a house.
Methinks that we’re going to see a whole lot more of these practices moving back into homes. Why? Because it cuts the commute time and expense to zero.
2. I’ve suspected that a lot of health care practices have been hard hit. Harking back to the doctor in the strip shopping center, I was back in the Pittsburgh area, looking for jobs in the early 1980s. I was staying with old neighbors, and guess who their doctor was? That guy my family once went to. Apparently, the early 1980s economy was so bad that it was affecting the doctor’s income.
I was in the area this house is described yesterday. I did notice a lot of chiropractors offices. Some said “accident victims welcome.” Then there was the lawyer’s ad that said only, “Sex, Drugs, Violence” or something like that. The funniest ad was for a “tooth doctor.”
Retirement Redefined: Hard Economic Times Lead To Unexpected Lifestyles
Retirement Redefined, a series of multimedia stories, looks at the changing nature of the golden years.
By Laurel Morales
August 21, 2011
This story is is part of a series in which Fronteras: The Changing America Desk investigates how retirement is being redefined by the Great Recession, along with links to useful sites that may keep nest eggs from spoiling.
This story is is part of a series in which Fronteras: The Changing America Desk investigates how retirement is being redefined by the Great Recession, along with links to useful sites that may keep nest eggs from spoiling.
Prescott, Arizona, often lands on top 10 lists for best places to retire. The charming cowboy town boasts the world’s oldest rodeo and more than 800 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. Its mild climate, continuing education opportunities, golf courses, hiking trails and affordable homes also appeal to folks.
“Come to Prescott any day of the week and you’ll see the future of an aging society,” said Dennis Garvey, gerontologist and director of Yavapai College’s Center for Successful Aging. “We look like, given our demographics, the rest of the country is going to look in the year 2030.”
That’s when close to one in four people will be over age 65 across the country. Currently only 13 percent of Americans have reached retirement age.
Percentage of people 65 or older who make up the workforce in 2011: 16. Number of people 65 and older who were in the labor force in 2009: 6.5 million.
…
Has anyone here heard of any buyer’s getting into trouble from Title Insurance “Carve Outs” on REO’s and SS’s?
As a future one check buyer, I am concerned the buyer’s title policy isn’t much protection. Any feedback?
I searched the ALTA website and found little information.
I keep hearing rumors of it but no concrete examples. It could very well be Housing Crime Syndicate fear mongering. At a minimum I’ll have my attorney find an insurer and would even pay more for a policy that had no exclusions.
Thanks, RAL. Actually “Carve Outs” are in lots of legislation, and in policies, but I can’t find much about the title ones. We are thinking about having a R E Attorney review our policy for C.O.’s. I’ll take your advice as a nudge.
With all the litigation with property title/ownership from the MBS players, it makes me a little nervous.
Small earthquake in DC area — looks to be about a 5 — epicenter seems to be near Richmond/Fredericksburg.
News reports say 5.8 on the Richter Scale. Which is quite the shaker.
Be safe, everybody.
And remember, we live on this earth by geological consent. Plate tectonics don’t care about us.
oxide
I’ll be darn, I didn’t know that part of the country had earthquakes. Stay safe.
(I live in So Ca - had my fill 1971 & 1994)
Update — it was a 5.9 epicentered near Richmond, VA. USGS has it up on their website. Yes, earthquakes are unusual in this part of the country. We just had one a little over a year ago — a 5.3, but with a much closer epicenter.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/
it was wierd! My Coke bottle on my desk, in office, tipped over. At first the building loudspeaker said “Everybody stay put!”. I was getting the heck OUT (remembering WTC). After thirty seconds, building loudspeaker said “Everybody get OUT”.
I went home. Nothing more was going to get done THAT day.
jane
Smart gal. It’s your life! You’ll make the decision if you gtfo of the building.
oxide
Thanks for the update.
Our last two big So Ca/ L A area quakes (71 & 94)hit in the early morning before wake-up time for most folks. That’s what kept the death rate down both times.
Every part of the planet has earthquakes over the course of geologic time.
My husband called me from O’Hare with the news. He’s going to Philly this afternoon. He hopes.
I just spoke with my mom and dad, who live 25 miles west of PHL.
Mom was sitting in the living room, working on a puzzle when the tremor hit. She noticed the couch vibrating, so she got up and went outside to check to see if anything was wrong with the house. Everything was okay.
It wasn’t until I called that they knew about the tremor.
Elanor - update us. Did he make it or did the FAA rearrange flights? The govt always
overreacts. (Or screws things up like Katrina.)
‘For my mom’s generation, a contract is a contract,’ Taylor says. ‘It’s very difficult for them.’”
That generation made America strong. No trash on the freeway. No 800K for Bell City major.
“‘For my mom’s generation, a contract is a contract,’ Taylor says. ‘It’s very difficult for them.’”
One of the underrated underpinnings of a sound banking system is TRUST. No amount of quantitative easing, twisted Treasury bond purchases or running of the printing press technology on ultra-high blast can restore the trust Wall Street’s subprime mortgage pimping operation destroyed.
How many generations will it be until trust returns to the U.S. banking system (if ever)?
‘The biggest sticking point is getting people to understand that their home isn’t valued at what it was when the market was at its peak in 2007,’
Prediction:
The deletirious effects of time will sadly wear down many of these seniors who are presently delaying the timing of their home sale until the market ‘comes back,’ to the point where they really have no choice. But at that point in time, many of these hapless holdouts will inevitably discover their homes still aren’t valued at what they were at the time of the 2007 market peak.
Arizona State janitors swept up by recession
By Peter O’Dowd
Marketplace, Tuesday, August 23, 2011
A look at the ASU community after budget cuts forced out most of the university’s janitorial staff.
Custodial workers
Custodial workers (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)
BOB MOON: It’s a bittersweet back-to-school time for the country’s largest public university. At Arizona State, like too many other schools, the axe has fallen on more than 1,000 jobs at ASU since the financial crisis began.
KJZZ’s Peter O’Dowd takes a look at how budget cuts and layoffs aren’t so academic for some workers.
PETER O’DOWD: In the 11 years that Beatriz Roman worked at ASU, she waxed the floors and dusted the insides of five buildings. She even knew exactly how much toilet paper each building needed. Eight rolls, for every floor. Then, at the very end of last school year –
BEATRIZ ROMAN: The lady, she comes and she says, oh. I have bad news.
That lady was an ASU administrator.
ROMAN: Everybody lose their job. Everybody’s working only two more weeks.
The university laid off its entire custodial staff. All 191 were offered jobs with private companies that would take over ASU’s cleaning duties.
…
“Whether or not the sale is approved is entirely up to the bank.”
Suppose the underwater home owner gives the bank two choices:
1. Short-sell the home
2. Walk away and drop off the keys
What is the difference from the bank’s perspective? And if there really is little or no difference, isn’t it really entirely up to the home owner whether to default on the mortgage and leave the lender with underwater collateral?